We’ve been reporting various activities by LINE Webtoon, a line of digital comics available via an app for iOS and Google Play. Here’s their first big original launch: New Brooklyn, a line of adventure comics brainstormed by Dean Haspiel and created by his studio mates Vito Delsante, Ricardo Venâncio, the late Seth Kushner, and Shamus Beyale. According to PR:
The series follows the adventures of a unique group of heroes who emerge in the fallout from Brooklyn’s decision to secede from New York State. In these comics, Brooklyn is not just the setting, but also a character with a broken heart whose decisions greatly impact the destinies of its residents. Fed up with the way society has formed around her, Brooklyn quite literally pulls away from New York – its bridges breaking and tunnels flooding – and proposes thathumanity return back to days of old where things and people were defined by their ethics, values and contributions; where skills and art could be bartered and traded; where land could be farmed to sustain life and spawn beauty.
The line debuts in March with The Red Hook and several series follow:
• The Red Hook by Dean Haspiel
Brooklyn’s master thief, Sam Brosia aka The Red Hook, can no longer lie, cheat, or steal when America’s greatest champion bequeaths him the powers and moral burden of the Omni-Fist of Altruism– against his will!
• The Brooklynite by Seth Kushner & Shamus Beyale
Brooklyn cartoonist, Jake Jeffries gets caught in the fallout of two super-humans battling and is accidentally irradiated with superpowers. Fraught with “Superman powers and Spider-Man problems,” Jake learns to fight crime in his secret identity as The Brooklynite, and chronicles his adventures in a comic book series while struggling to lead a dual existence.
• The Purple Heart by Vito Delsante, Dean Haspiel, & Ricardo Venâncio
US Navy soldier, Isaiah “Zeke” Nelson has returned from war overseas. He is done fighting and all he wants is to go home to Brooklyn. But Brooklyn has other plans when her heart is broken and she secedes from America and selects Zeke to become New Brooklyn’s cosmic guardian, The Purple Heart.
“As a native New Yorker, I’ve always loved the idea of creating a comic universe that captures the history and culture that is unique to Brooklyn,” said Haspiel in a statement. “I’m very proud of the story we have been able to weave through our individual heroes and we are excited to launch New Brooklyn on LINE Webtoon.”
“Brooklyn is a major part of the current pop culture zeitgeist, but there is not yet a comic series out there that truly represents the borough and the people who live there,” said JunKoo Kim, Founder and Head of LINE Webtoon. “We are looking forward to bringing the unique and colorful alternate reality of New Brooklyn that Dean Haspiel and his fellow artists have created to life on LINE Webtoon.”
Moe of this stage new universe, aka Brooklyn, will be revealed at the LINE Webtoon “The Future of Comics” panel at New York Comic Con on Saturday, October 10th at 4pm in room 1A21.
